About the Episode
About the Episode:
What happens after a student clicks “Request Information”? For most institutions, that’s where marketing’s job ends. For our guest, that’s where it begins. Devin Purgason, Associate VP of Student Experience at Forsyth Technical Community College, explains how rethinking marketing as service transformed enrollment, strengthened persistence, and improved completion. By merging marketing with student care, restructuring onboarding, and investing in paid student influencers, Devin argues that the goal of marketing isn’t just more leads. It’s better outcomes.
Join us as we discuss:
- [2:11] Why navigating a website is homework to Gen Z
- [14:40] Why the goal of marketing should be completion
- [22:40] Bringing human-centric marketing into your social media
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What does it mean to “humanize” the student experience through marketing?
Devin frames humanizing marketing as a refusal to treat the student journey like a relay race where marketing drops the baton and hopes someone else catches it. He describes the frustration of seeing campaigns perform well—more leads, stronger conversions—only for those leads to “vanish” once they hit another department. That gap isn’t just an internal workflow problem; it’s a student trust problem.
The episode lands on a simple truth: when a prospective student submits an RFI at 11 p.m., that moment is emotional. It might be the first step after months of doubt, fear, or uncertainty. If the institution disappears for two weeks after that, the student doesn’t just feel ignored—they feel validated in the worry that they don’t belong.
Human-centered enrollment marketing doesn’t end at the impression. It’s accountable for the experience that follows, because when the experience doesn’t match the message, the brand feels fake. And students can smell “fake” faster than any of us want to admit.
What do students actually expect from communication today?
One of the most quotable insights from Devin: a website is “homework” for Gen Z. But he pushes this beyond generational stereotypes—because Forsyth Tech serves students from 16 to 77. Whether it’s a teenager or a 45-year-old single parent returning to school, nobody wants to navigate a phone tree, dig through pages, or fill out yet another form.
The expectation is consistent: communication should feel personal and efficient. And the comparison set isn’t other colleges. It’s Amazon, banking apps, and every frictionless service interaction people experience every day. In other words, higher ed isn’t being graded against higher ed—it’s being graded against modern life.
Allison highlights an important distinction: we talk endlessly about “personalization,” but Devin chooses “personal.” Personalization is inserting a first name. Personal is a real exchange with a real human—someone who identifies themselves, acknowledges what the student is trying to do, and offers help in a way that feels like a conversation.
Why does “service” belong in marketing?
Devin connects the dots in a way that will make some folks uncomfortable—in a good way. The most effective marketing will always be word of mouth, and word of mouth is fueled by the quality of the service experience. If students have a great experience, they tell people. If they have a bad one, they tell even more people—and they leave receipts (reviews, social posts, comments).
That’s why he argues for a service interaction mindset in marketing. Marketing isn’t only responsible for demand generation. It’s responsible for reducing the disconnect between promise and reality, because that disconnect is what creates negative word of mouth at scale.
This is where the episode becomes less about campaigns and more about institutional behavior. If your brand says “we care” but your process says “good luck,” students believe your process.
How did Forsyth Tech operationalize a more human student experience?
Devin’s most impactful example isn’t a clever tactic—it’s a structural decision. Forsyth Tech merged marketing with what they now call Student Care, a centralized contact center that functions as a true front door for the college. Instead of students bouncing between departments (or disappearing into inbox purgatory), one team manages inbound and outbound communication across phone, text, email, AI chat, and walk-ups.
It started as a scrappy pilot: part-time staff working over the summer to call and follow up with leads that were falling through the cracks. Then the model scaled—absorbing roles and responsibilities from other areas as Student Care took on more inbound volume. Over time, they built a consistent system, knowledge base, and ownership model.
And yes, it reports to marketing—which initially confused people. Devin’s response is blunt: word of mouth is the most powerful marketing, so the student experience belongs with the team responsible for the brand promise. He also gives credit to leadership support, especially from President Dr. Janet Riggs, for making the model sustainable instead of a “nice idea” that fades out.
What happens when marketing’s goal shifts from leads to completion?
Allison asks a deceptively big question: what if the goal of marketing was actually completion? That single shift changes the entire conversation—from volume to outcomes, from acquisition to persistence, from “How many leads did we generate?” to “Did students make it?”
Devin reinforces that enrollment without completion isn’t success. Filling the funnel only to watch students stop out, struggle, or accumulate debt without a credential isn’t mission-aligned marketing. Forsyth Tech’s approach emphasizes persistence and retention because it’s easier (and better) to keep a student progressing than to constantly replace lost students with new ones.
They share encouraging results: Forsyth Tech has seen consistent semester-over-semester enrollment growth (Devin notes over 10% increases) alongside improved completion rates. He’s careful not to make it about one person—but very clear that the strategy and structure are producing better outcomes.
How can AI make the experience more human, not less?
Here’s the twist: Devin argues that AI in higher education can support human connection when used strategically. Forsyth Tech layered AI into Element451 so common questions—program availability, start dates, application basics—get answered instantly around the clock.
That might sound less personal on paper, but it has a very human impact in practice. When staff aren’t spending all day answering the same 10 questions, they have time for the conversations that actually require empathy and nuance: fear, uncertainty, childcare logistics, first-generation confusion, and “I don’t even know what to ask.”
In other words: AI handles the repetitive. Humans handle the meaningful. That’s the version of AI-enabled enrollment marketing that actually feels student-centered.
What role do onboarding and student ambassadors play in trust-building?
Forsyth Tech also built an onboarding function to guide new students from acceptance through the end of their first semester. Instead of dumping a giant checklist immediately, they pace communications, acknowledge the emotional weight of starting college, and provide a real person students can contact when stuck. It’s less transactional and more like a guided path.
Student ambassadors show up as another trust accelerant. Devin says the quiet part out loud: prospective students don’t fully trust institutions, but they do trust other students. The content that performs best—tours, social posts, authentic stories—comes from real student voices.
Forsyth Tech is leaning into this by empowering students as creators and compensating them for their work. That last point matters: if we want students to graduate into family-sustaining wages, institutions should model fair, real-world work experiences while students are still enrolled.
Where should teams start if they want more human, student-centered marketing?
Devin’s advice is refreshingly actionable and a little scary (because it works): experience your institution the way a student does. Fill out your own RFI at 9 p.m. and time the response. Call the main number during business hours and see what happens. Email admissions and track how long it takes. Try to find program info on your phone, not your desktop.
Then, go sit with whoever answers phones and messages for a day. Watch what students ask. Notice where confusion spikes. Pay attention to what breaks, where handoffs fail, and what makes you cringe. You don’t need a full reorg on day one—you need clarity about the first friction point you can fix.
Allison adds the essential “pre-step”: humility. You have to be willing to see what’s broken without defending it. Because you can’t humanize an experience you refuse to honestly evaluate.
Connect With Our Host:
Allison Turcio
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonturcio/
https://twitter.com/allisonturcio
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — the next-generation AI student engagement platform helping institutions create meaningful and personalized interactions with students. Learn more at element451.com.
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